iOS 7

Apple’s release of iOS 7 laid the groundwork for a new aesthetic across handheld devices. With iOS 8, there were a lot of new tricks Apple let loose, with Continuity, Handoff, and other satellite offerings like Family Share giving us reason to make our iPads and iPhones go-to devices. Now, a new rumor suggests iOS 9 will get some under-the-hood improvements, and become a lot less fussy. Now that we’ve got a pretty, useful operating system, it seems Apple wants to make it more reliable.

According to Apple, iOS 8 adoption is now at 68%. The last iteration of their mobile operating system, iOS 7, is at 29%. As for ‘older’ variants of iOS, 4% of people are still using a dates OS, according to Apple. The numbers detail a strong Christmas showing, too, with iOS 8 growing form 64% of December 22 — likely due to new activations. There’s more to the story, of course, but Apple is still wrong. We’re sure they know their distribution numbers, but they’re still wrong.

A lot of attention has been thrust on iOS 8 adoption rates lately, as downloads seem to have stagnated. With 47% of iOS devices running the latest version, it matches iOS 7 for device software supremacy. Now that the two are at a stalemate, it seems it may not matter much just yet. Here’s why.

All this chatter about iOS 8, and it seems everyone is slow to upgrade! Via several sources who track which OS is in use on their network, we find that iOS 8 is not yet widely used, and is seeing a slower uptake than iOS 6 or iOS 7 before it.

Chitika, Mixpanel, Appsee, and Tapjoy are all networks who provide information about OS use based on their ad networks. Through charts they have provided, we see that iOS 8 is on a slow march to its eventual takeover. There could be a variety of reasons for this slow iOS 8 adoption rate, which we’ll unceremoniously jump right into!

This afternoon Apple’s iMessage platform has had some trouble staying active across the United States. While most reported outage areas seem relegated to the United States in heavily populated areas like Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York City, we’ve also seen reports overseas. Most reports of outage with iMessage outside of the USA seem set in or around the UK and Europe.

Today we're going to address a simple problem many users have with their iPad - finding a Wi-Fi network to access the internet. The following post is part of SlashGear’s Family IT collection, helping those new to technology with the devices they own. These posts will also be helpful for those of you inundated with questions from family members about their devices if you just to happen to be your family’s IT specialist.

At the close of the month, Apple launched updates for both OS X Mavericks OS on Macs as well as the mobile iOS platform. While Mavericks 10.9.4 and iOS 7.1.2 do come with a few, very few in fact, new features, the focus of the update is to address security issues and bug fixes, including one that was discovered shortly after the unveiling of iOS 8.

There’s an app by the name of "Sleep Cycle" that takes the prospect of waking up every morning completely refreshed and aims to make it a reality. All you need is a smartphone with an accelerometer to make it work - and you need the app too, of course, which will cost you a couple of bucks. We’re here to tell you that it’s worth the cash - based on our first few tries with the setup, that is to say.

Yes, there is yet another lock screen bug on iOS 7, discovered just days after iOS 8 was unveiled. But while this bypass can get you access to one, yes just one, app in 5 seconds, if you're fast enough, it can only really be triggered if certain conditions are present.

SteelSeries has come out with a new game controller for iOS 7 devices, but this time it's thinking big. The SteelSeries Stratus XL is being billed as a full-sized wireless game controller that aims to deliver maximum control and comfort when playing any of those hundreds of compatible iOS games.